xavdid's recent activity
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
xavdid IMO don't feel like you have to push through- games are supposed to be fun and not a choreIMO don't feel like you have to push through- games are supposed to be fun and not a chore
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Comment on Single most useful program you daily use? in ~tech
xavdid There are a lot of great apps in here, but the one I couldn't live without is Things 3. It's how I keep track of basically everything I need to do, from work to chores to calling friends on their...There are a lot of great apps in here, but the one I couldn't live without is Things 3. It's how I keep track of basically everything I need to do, from work to chores to calling friends on their birthdays. It all goes in there and it all gets done.
I've tried other todo apps with more features or more complexity, but nothing beats the absolute smoothness of the Things UI. It turns out that if it's an app you touch a lot, having it be nice to use goes a long way.
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Comment on Book recommendations for regular people living through fascist/authoritarian regimes? in ~books
xavdid These are all great history-related recs, but does anyone have any good fiction to recommend? I guess the obvious one is Handmaid's Tale, but I wasn't sure what else should go on the list.These are all great history-related recs, but does anyone have any good fiction to recommend? I guess the obvious one is Handmaid's Tale, but I wasn't sure what else should go on the list.
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Comment on Midweek Movie Free Talk in ~movies
xavdid +1, I never watch a trailer for a movie I ever want to see. I've basically sworn them off ever since I learned that the original trailer for Jordan Peele's Get Out was going to include: Get Out...+1, I never watch a trailer for a movie I ever want to see. I've basically sworn them off ever since I learned that the original trailer for Jordan Peele's Get Out was going to include:
Get Out spoilers!
The girlfriend threateningly jangling her keys
by studio request. Luckily it was pulled at the last minute, but I still don't trust any trailers.
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Comment on Midweek Movie Free Talk in ~movies
xavdid Finally watched Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (after watching the original 3 short films leading up to it). I rated it 3/4 on my blog and said:Finally watched Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (after watching the original 3 short films leading up to it). I rated it 3/4 on my blog and said:
Charming, yet more modern feeling. Lots of great jokes. Pacing was a little slow and the story was less focused than it could have been. That's what happens when you translate 30 min movies into a 90 minute one. Felt like they could have tightened it up a fair bit.
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Comment on My hobby: reviewing things! Here are my favorites games, movies, shows, books from 2024. in ~hobbies
xavdid Ordinarily this sort of thing would belong better in ~games, ~tv, ~books, and ~movies, but I didn't feel like it was nice to post it 4 times. Anyway. My list is somewhat unique in that something...Ordinarily this sort of thing would belong better in ~games, ~tv, ~books, and ~movies, but I didn't feel like it was nice to post it 4 times. Anyway.
My list is somewhat unique in that something is only eligible if I watched/played/read it for the first time in 2024 (regardless of when it came out). So a game that came out in a year with a lot of stiff competition has a shot at winning in a way it might not have for the Game Awards.
I've really enjoyed writing reviews and putting it all together, so let me know what you think!
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My hobby: reviewing things! Here are my favorites games, movies, shows, books from 2024.
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Comment on Thinky Awards 2024 nominees in ~games
xavdid You're welcome! It's a great site. I basically always find something new for my wishlist when I go there, so it's sort of a dangerous game. π I'll have to check out the word searches!You're welcome! It's a great site. I basically always find something new for my wishlist when I go there, so it's sort of a dangerous game. π
I'll have to check out the word searches!
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Thinky Awards 2024 nominees
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Comment on TV Tuesdays Free Talk in ~tv
xavdid Finished S2 of Arcane, which I enjoyed. The art / music / design is once again, bar-none the best thing I've ever seen. Story was pretty good, but I think S1 had the edge. S2 had too many...Finished S2 of Arcane, which I enjoyed. The art / music / design is once again, bar-none the best thing I've ever seen. Story was pretty good, but I think S1 had the edge. S2 had too many characters and too many subplots, which caused it to lose a bit of focus, I think. Still a fun watch though!
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Comment on TV Tuesdays Free Talk in ~tv
xavdid Such a fun show. Season 1 airing during covid lockdowns (Aug 2020) made for such a pleasant change of pace from everything. Just a little ray of sunshine each Friday for everyone.Such a fun show. Season 1 airing during covid lockdowns (Aug 2020) made for such a pleasant change of pace from everything. Just a little ray of sunshine each Friday for everyone.
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Comment on Bookshop.orgβs ebook store is a local-first competitor to Amazon in ~books
xavdid I really like the idea of this - ebooks supporting real bookstores is great. I don't love the DRM. Having to use their app for purchased books is annoying. My understanding is that it's all pushed...I really like the idea of this - ebooks supporting real bookstores is great.
I don't love the DRM. Having to use their app for purchased books is annoying. My understanding is that it's all pushed from the publishers and it's not something that bookshop.org can control, but it's still annoying.
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Comment on We're bringing Pebble back! in ~tech
xavdid It's great to see them coming back! I adored my Pebble(s). 2 fun stories: Pebble supported 3rd party watch faces based on a file. There was a great little site that let you use a visual UI to...It's great to see them coming back! I adored my Pebble(s). 2 fun stories:
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Pebble supported 3rd party watch faces based on a file. There was a great little site that let you use a visual UI to build the file and, if done from your phone, upload it right to the watch. Once, when out at midnight beer launch, I made a custom face for the beer and won a little keychain from the brewery. My Apple watch could never.
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Once time in 2014, I ran into some Pebble engineers at an ice cream shop in Palo Alto, they spotted my watch, they bought my scoop! Fun, weird little Silicon Valley moment.
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Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books
xavdid I'm finally reading Bad Monkey by Carl Hiaasen. I've always heard good things, but I would always mix it up with another favorite of mine (Bad Monkeys by Matt Ruff; don't @ me). I'm glad its Apple...I'm finally reading Bad Monkey by Carl Hiaasen. I've always heard good things, but I would always mix it up with another favorite of mine (Bad Monkeys by Matt Ruff; don't @ me). I'm glad its Apple adaptation convinced me to give it a shot though - it's a great read so far!
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Comment on Sanity check: is using links to your personal blog as a glorified text post type reasonable? in ~tildes
xavdid I think that's fair too! I think in both cases, Tildes readers will be able to read what you write with minimal fuss.I think that's fair too! I think in both cases, Tildes readers will be able to read what you write with minimal fuss.
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Comment on Sanity check: is using links to your personal blog as a glorified text post type reasonable? in ~tildes
xavdid (edited )LinkI broadly agree with the other comments - putting your words on your site and posting that to Tildes has a lot of overlap with an actual text post. But, one advantage of Tildes is its very clean...I broadly agree with the other comments - putting your words on your site and posting that to Tildes has a lot of overlap with an actual text post. But, one advantage of Tildes is its very clean reading interface and lack of annoyances (modals, floating buttons, etc). So if your personal blog is on Medium or something annoying to read, then there would be a good reason to post here directly instead of linking out. It doesn't seem like the case for your blog, but would be an issue with someone's blog.
Another argument for writing a site you control and posting it here is that you get to retain the words you write. Some people describe that as POSSE: "Publish (on your) Own Site, Syndicate Elsewhere".
A while ago, I tried to make a searchable collection of everything I'd written online (across Reddit, HN, Tildes, lobse.rs, etc). Sometimes I want to refer back to something I said or remember a link that I shared, which is hard to do across sites and without great search / filtering. This has proved surprisingly tricky to do! So by writing on your own site first, you keep a full record of what you've written (and then we can all comment on it here). So I think broadly, I'm for it!
I opened being able to export/dump my Tildes contributions as a feature request on GitLab, but it hasn't gotten any traction: tildes/tildes#825.
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Comment on Blogs: Show your own writing and good posts you have found recently in ~creative
xavdid I've got a little blog on my personal site: https://xavd.id/blog I post a few times a year, mostly about tech things and/or videogames. I also do a big "favorite media of the year" roundup about...I've got a little blog on my personal site: https://xavd.id/blog
I post a few times a year, mostly about tech things and/or videogames. I also do a big "favorite media of the year" roundup about games, books, movies, and TV. That'll go up soonish. I also run a small indie review site, https://david.reviews/ I publish micro reviews there, plus some longer game ones if I get review keys.
In both cases, there's RSS feeds for everything and no ads/popups/junk. I feel pretty strongly about making sites that I'd actually want to read. And now, more than ever, it's valuable to own the places where your words live!
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
xavdid I dropped Forspoken after trying really hard to like it. I started Sonic Frontiers right afterwards, which is a lateral move in a lot of ways. Weirdly though, I'm finding Sonic pretty fun. There...I dropped Forspoken after trying really hard to like it. I started Sonic Frontiers right afterwards, which is a lateral move in a lot of ways.
Weirdly though, I'm finding Sonic pretty fun. There are a ton of weird, bad design decisions, but the core of "zip around, go fast, do some platforming" totally works. The combat is surprisingly good too. There's more attacks than before, so you're actually chaining together combos in a way that Sonic (afaik) hasn't done before.
It'll probably cap out for me at a 3β/4 because of the downsides, but I'm having a good time with it. Makes for some good mindless fun.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
xavdid IMO Chained Echoes really solved turn-based JRPG combat- there's no grinding at all! You only level up after bosses, so they can really tune the difficulty of everything. You do manage abilities...IMO Chained Echoes really solved turn-based JRPG combat- there's no grinding at all! You only level up after bosses, so they can really tune the difficulty of everything. You do manage abilities and equipment though, so there's still lots to do.
I'm a juror for the Thinky Awards, so i've mostly been playing a bunch of those nominees. I collected my impressions into a little blog post: https://david.reviews/articles/thinky-awards-2024-impressions/
There's a bunch of good games, but the ones I liked the most / am the most excited to revisit are:
But honestly all of the nominees were fun for their own reasons